A Overlooked Factor in College Search: Metro Growth and Job Growth

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Bizjournals recently released a report on population growth in the USA’s 250 largest metropolitan areas. As most college students will be looking for a job after graduation, finding a growing metropolis can be a great advantage. This is particularly true in today’s poor economic environment. Some studies claim that as many as 80% of students who graduated from college in 2009 have yet to find a full-time job. </p>

<p>So, think about how colleges position you for various geographies and which reflect trends that could be a wind at your back…or in your face.</p>

<p>Here is the link to the article and the 10 major points that it reviews:</p>

<p>[bizjournals:</a> How much U.S. metros will grow – bizjournals](<a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/edit_special/80.html]bizjournals:”>http://www.bizjournals.com/edit_special/80.html)</p>

<li><p>New York City will retain first place by a comfortable margin.</p></li>
<li><p>Houston and Atlanta will climb into the top six.</p></li>
<li><p>Detroit will drop out of the top 10, with Phoenix replacing it.</p></li>
<li><p>Raleigh will set the fastest pace of any metropolitan area.</p></li>
<li><p>Eighteen areas are expected to lose at least 5 percent of their current populations. </p></li>
<li><p>Seven metros currently in the top 50 will climb at least five places, led by Austin.</p></li>
<li><p>Cleveland will fall the farthest of any metro currently in the top 50</p></li>
<li><p>Eight metros will join the million-plus club between 2005 and 2025.</p></li>
<li><p>A few others will reach higher population milestones.</p></li>
<li><p>Some smaller places will move rapidly up the charts.</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>[United</a> States most populated cities](<a href=“http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/most_pop_cities_usa.htm]United”>http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/most_pop_cities_usa.htm)
[List</a> of United States cities by population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population]List”>List of United States cities by population - Wikipedia)</p>

3

<p>metro growth and state job growth is especially important for state schools since most students who graduate from state schools find employment in the state where the college is</p>

4

<p>^^^Not necessarily. I was in Chicago last weekend. Quite a magnet for all the Big-10 schools. There was even a bar near Wrigleyville that had a VA Tech banner.</p>

5

<p>^^ By hawkette’s logic, you should avoid the following schools:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Harvard, MIT, and any other Boston-area school. The Boston metropolitan area is projected to grow by a modest 259,000 persons between 2010 and 2025, falling out of the top 10 metro areas. Elsewhere around New England, look for flat to very modest population growth. Clearly a loser region.</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia, NYU, and any other NYC-area school. The New York City metro is projected to grow by a modest 668,000 people between 2010 and 2025. I know, it sounds like a lot, but this is really a modest growth rate for a metro area of some 19 million persons—a total increase of just 3.5% over a 15-year period, which works out to, what, about two-tenths of a percent per year growth? That’s stagnation! New York will remain number one only because it starts with such a formidable lead.</p></li>
<li><p>Penn, Swarthmore, and any other Philadelphia-area college. The Philadelphia metro is projected to add a mere 210,000 people over the next 15 years, almost falling out of the top 10.</p></li>
<li><p>WUSTL. Thew St. Louis metro is expected to grow by a paltry 109,000, falling out of the top 20 metro areas.</p></li>
<li><p>CMU. The Pittsburg population is projected to nosedive by 128,000, one of the largest absolute drops and one of the largest percentage drops (-5.5%) for any top-30 metro area. (In contrast, Detroit’s much-ballyhooed population decline is, according to these estimates, expected to amount to all of 7,000 persons, or a little over 1/10th of 1% of its much-larger population). By 2025, Pittsburgh will no longer be in the top 30.</p></li>
<li><p>Case Western. Cleveland is right there with Pittsburg, losing 146,000 or a full 7% of its population—again, far worse in both absolute and percentage terms than Detroit. Cleveland also drops out of the top 30.</p></li>
<li><p>Brown. Metro Providence is projected to grow by a trivial 62,000.</p></li>
<li><p>Tulane. Metro New Orleans is projected to be down by 66,000, or nearly 6% of its current population. already decimated by post-Katrina losses. On a percentage basis, roughly as bad as Cleveland and Pittsburgh. New Orelans drops out of the top 50 metro areas.</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell, RPI, U Rochester, Colgate, Hamilton, anyplace in upstate New York. It’s a bloodbath up there. As best I can tell, every metro area in upstate New York (with the exception of Albany which shows a modest, almost trivial population increase) is projected to lose population between 2010 and 2025, in absolute numbers and on a percentage basis far worse than Detroit, the so-called “poster child” for population decline.</p></li>
<li><p>Yale. Metro New Haven population essentially flat, New Haven falls from #59 to #70 among metro areas.</p></li>
<li><p>Bowdoin, Bates, Colby. Maine’s population growth is projected to be flat, flat, flat.</p></li>
<li><p>Princeton. I guess Princeton is in metro Trenton, which is flat, flat, flat. In any event, it’s located squarely between New York City and Philadelphia which we’ve already identified as loser places.</p></li>
<li><p>Notre Dame. Metro South Bend down 4,000. Heck, that’s almost as much in absolute numbers as Detroit, off a population base less than 1/10 as large.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Hawkette’s right, of course. Instead of the above-mentioned loser schools, you’ll want to cast your lot with the likes of:

  1. Arizona State. (Phoenix metro projected population +3 million).
  2. UNLV. (Las Vegas +1.7 million)
  3. University of Central Florida (Orlando + 1.4 million)
  4. UNC-Charlotte (Charlotte + 1.1 million)
  5. UC Riverside (Riverside-San Bernardino +2.2 million)
  6. SMU (Dallas +2.9 million)
  7. University of South Florida (Tampa-St. Pete + 1.2 million)</p>

<p>Some other highlights:

  • Chicago (+8.97%) is expected to grow at a much fast clip than New York.
  • Minneapolis-St.Paul (+23.99%) is expected to grow at roughly the same pace as Silicon Valley (San Jose +24.99%)
  • Medium-to-large metro areas in the Upper Midwest are expected to grow at a brisk clip, led by Sioux Falls (+45.73%), Des Moines (+32.25%), Rochester MN (+28.07%), Indianapolis (+27.93%), Fargo (+27.46%), Madison (+25.05%), and anchoring them all, Minneapolis-St. Paul (23.99%). Frostbelt, here we come!
  • Despite Detroit’s essentially unchanged population, much of Michigan is expected to grow at a reasonably healthy rate, led by Ann Arbor (+13.85%, with the metro Ann Arbor population expected to hover around 400,000 by 2025), Grand Rapids (+13.36%, approaching 1 million by 2025), Kalamazoo (+13.99%) , Muskegon (+7.86%), and Lansing (+6.0%). All these growth rates exceed those of most medium-to-large metro areas in the Northeast.</p>

<p>This is all silliness of course. But I think you get the point.</p>

6

<p>Way to take a bad point to an extreme bclintonk ;)</p>

7

<p>^^ LOL! @ bclintonk</p>

<p>Yes, despite hawkette’s anti-Michigan (anti-Midwest) claims, the state of Michigan’s population will continue to grow because of the following:</p>

<p>a) abundant amount of natural resources,
b) cheaper cost of living and excess housing inventory (folks from California and the Northeast will migrate to Michigan for a better quality of life),
c) better venue for startups (there are so many untapped opportunities here that it’s an entrepeneur’s market),
d) easy access to a newly-remodeled world-class metropolitan airport (DTW),
e) international border and efficient transportation system (Ambassador Bridge is the busiest trade location in the United States)
f) world-class university in a booming city (Ann Arbor) that is promoting startups and new business ventures
g) excellent seasonal tourism (Winter Wonderland? Great Lakes Splendor? Camping and Hiking Trails, anyone?) </p>

<p>So, Michigan will see a renaissance in the next 10-20 years. :)</p>

8

<p>Bc,
Gee, I don’t see any references anywhere to any schools in the article or in my post. To most people, looking for a growing metro area is NOT a controversial subject. It’s common sense. Sorry you have to respond in so unconstructive a fashion. </p>

<p>If you think that geography is not a relevant factor in the college search process and postgraduate job hunt, then you could not be more wrong. Geography can have a large impact on one’s postgraduate opportunities. Furthermore, this can be felt in larger and larger measure as you consider the job prospects of students graduating from less and less selective universities. </p>

<p>The influence of geography is far, far from silliness…unless you’re either a trust fund baby or are so enmeshed in academia that you don’t worry about getting a job in the real world.</p>

9

<p>The place to be is NC. With the way the state (and Raleigh in particular is booming), job prospects look good if you go to UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, NC State and even Duke. Like it or not blinctonk, these things do matter.</p>

10

<p>Not really. Austin and Houston are the places to be, according to the article. Thus UT-Austin, A&M and Rice should be your top three … followed by perhaps Georgia Tech and Emory.</p>

<p>“Houston and Atlanta will climb into the top six.”
“Seven metros currently in the top 50 will climb at least five places, led by Austin.”</p>

11

<p>

</p>

<p>Nope. Raleigh is growing faster than any other city in the country, and is also the best place (according to Forbes) in the country to do business and one of the best places in the country to live. It is supposed to double its population by 2025-that is absolutely booming.</p>

12

<p>good thing Atlanta, Charlotte and North Carolina are nearby, South Carolina’s just a total disaster</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>South Carolina has Charleston and, for the weekends, Myrtle Beach. That’s all you need.</p>

14

<p>the unemployment rate of South Carolina is the 3rd highest in the country behind Michigan and Rhode Island
and even so, the governor of South Carolina refuses to accept federal stimulus money.</p>

15

<p>He should give SC’s share to CA. God knows we need it…</p>

16

<p>A few more articles caught my eye recently on this topic:</p>

<p>[US</a> cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive - Telegraph](<a href=“http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5516536/US-cities-may-have-to-be-bulldozed-in-order-to-survive.html]US”>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5516536/US-cities-may-have-to-be-bulldozed-in-order-to-survive.html)</p>

<p>[Southern</a> States Poach Businesses Amid Downturn - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124485634480511841.html]Southern”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124485634480511841.html)</p>

<p>[the-best-and-worst-cities-for-recession-recovery:</a> Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/107183/the-best-and-worst-cities-for-recession-recovery?mod=realestate-buy]the-best-and-worst-cities-for-recession-recovery:”>http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/107183/the-best-and-worst-cities-for-recession-recovery?mod=realestate-buy)</p>

17

<p>

</p>

<p>Gee, hawkette. If geography is destiny, don’t you suppose those fast-growing cities like Phoenix (+ 3 million) and Las Vegas (+1.7 million) are going to run out of college graduates awfully quickly? I mean, ASU is big, but there’s no way it can pump out college graduates fast enough to keep pace with that kind of projected growth. Gosh, they might even have to hire some college graduates from OUTSIDE THE STATE!!! Do you suppose they’d take resumes from graduates of the likes of Harvard, MIT, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Princeton, Penn, Swarthmore, CMU, Case Western, Michigan, Notre dame, Chicago, Northwestern, and other “loser” schools in “loser” metropolitan regions? You know, it might just work! One region produces a surplus of college graduates and exports them. Another region has a scarcity of college graduates and hires the transplants. Almost like . . . a MARKET!!!</p>

18

<p>
[quote=]
Nope. Raleigh is growing faster than any other city in the country, and is also the best place (according to Forbes) in the country to do business and one of the best places in the country to live. It is supposed to double its population by 2025-that is absolutely booming.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It’s easier to have a growth rate that big when you’re much smaller to begin with. Even with the Raleigh area doubling it’s population, it will still be much smaller than the major Texas metros of Dallas and Houston, which are also stll growing rapidly and, to a lesser extent it will still be smaller than the Austin metro. The concentration of international business in Texas, especially in Houston, with non-stop links from both Dallas and Houston to international locations all over the world also play in Texas’ favor. Both Dallas and Houston have the largest concentrations of F500 companies in the country after New York (and I think together they ARE the largest in the country), another plus for Texas.</p>

19

<p>Also - the link hawkette posted says Austin (as well as Dallas and San Antonio) is the best positioned to come out of the recession and the best big city for jobs.</p>

20

<p>The rankings are all over the place; one has Raleigh as the best city for business, and the other has Austin as the best city for jobs. Either way things are looking good for the sunbelt, and particularly North Carolina and Texas. Raleigh has RTP going for it, plus four major universities nearby. BRAC is bringing US Army Forces Command and all of its high-ranked, highly-paid personnel to Fayetteville (an hour south of Raleigh) over the next couple years, so the RDU area will benefit from that as well. </p>

<p>I’ve got nothing against Austin (or anywhere in Texas). Great places, and like the cities in North Carolina they are booming. Now is a great time to be a Longhorn, Tar Heel, Demon Deacon, Wolfpack, or Blue Devil.</p>